(OPINION) Public trust in pastors has dropped to a new low, according to the latest Gallup poll. The survey finds that only 30% of Americans rate clergy as highly honest and ethical, continuing a downward trend.
Gallup’s findings, released last week, place clergy in 10th position among the 23 professions measured. Clergy were ranked below auto mechanics (33%), judges (28%), but above bankers (23%) and nursing home operators (21%).
The poll, conducted Dec. 2-18, 2024, also revealed that 20% of Americans rate clergy’s honesty and ethics as low or very low, while another 42% see pastors as having average standards.
Seven percent said they had no opinion about clergy.
Gallup’s measurements show that this year’s figure aligns with the overall shift in public perceptions of various professional groups, many of which have experienced a decline in trust.
The polling organization, which has tracked some occupations annually since 1999, said most professions have recorded lower honesty and ethics ratings over time.
“The proportion saying the clergy have high or very high ethics is down from an average 56% in 2000-2009 to 30% today,” Gallup noted.
Responding to the Gallup poll results, Lifeway Research observed that pastors “still rate among the top half of professions included,” yet remain below majorities that trust nurses (79%), grade-school teachers (61%), military officers (59%), pharmacists (57%), and medical doctors (53%).
Over the early 2000s, the average level of trust across these groups hovered at or above 40%.
It then dipped closer to 35% in the 2010s, and has stood at 30% for the past two years, matching the trust levels for pastors.
Gallup’s data showed that 21 of the 22 professions measured in both 2024 and 2021 have declined in public esteem, leaving state officeholders as the lone exception with a 2-point increase in that period.
“Previously, a broad majority of the U.S. held pastors in the highest regard,” Lifeway stated, recalling that 67% of Americans considered pastors highly honest and ethical in 1985.
The figure briefly rebounded to 64% in 2001, coinciding with a wave of public support following the September 11 attacks. FULL REPORT
